Real Lives: the long life of Old Tom Parr

Historian feature

By Dexter Plato, published 14th November 2025

King Charles and the 152-year-old husbandman

Our series ‘Real Lives seeks to put the story of the ordinary person into our great historical narrative. If you have any people that you think might also fit this category and would like to write about them, please do contact: martin.hoare@history.org.uk 

In this article, Dexter Plato tells us about the real, or perhaps not so real, life of Old Tom Parr, who was supposedly born during the Wars of the Roses and died during a visit to the court of Charles I...

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